Research in natural settings 2 Qualitative research: Surveys and fieldwork Macau University of Science and Technology

Overview i Qualitative research: General definitions and concepts ii. Surveys: Questionnaires and interviews iii. Field notes: Gathering data

Qualitative research General definitions and concepts i. One form of qualitative research consists of open-ended questions embedded in a structured interview or questionnaire (as part of survey research) ii. The other forms consist of fieldwork, participant observation, and ethnography, and rely entirely on open-ended explorations or people’s words, thoughts, actions and intentions (Judd et al. 1991: 299) – just generally use the term ‘fieldwork’ iii. In other words, fieldwork research does not begin with a set of fixed behaviours or coding categories that are to be explored (as with systematic observation) (Judd et al. 1991: 299) iv. Field-workers are often intensely immersed as participants in the lives of the people they are studying, while others remain more nearly observers (Judd et al. 1991: 299)

Qualitative research Surveys: Questionnaires and interviews i. Modes of data collection include: -Written questionnaires (incl. online questionnaires) -Personal interviews -Telephone interviews ii. Each method of data collection has advantages and disadvantages. For example, written questionnaires may be cheap and easy to distribute, but the response rate and quality of data obtained could be low. Personal interviews are the most costly, but the quality of data is generally very high.

Qualitative research Surveys: Questionnaires and interviews i. Surveys are also called ‘questionnaire-based research’ and the goal is to learn what the respondents know (facts), what they think, expect, feel, or prefer (beliefs and attitudes), or what they have done (behaviours) ii. Typical questionnaires will contain more than one of the categories in (i) above Questions about beliefs and attitudes i. They are the most difficult type of questions to write ii. Respondents may not have an attitude because they never thought about the issue until the interviewer asked about it (Judd et al. 1991: 231) iii. Attitudes are complex and multidimensional – respondents may not have a single overall attitude towards an issue. E.g. Sometime abortion is OK, while in other conditions it is not OK

Qualitative research Questions about beliefs and attitudes iv. People who have the same attitudes may vary in their intensity towards that attitude v. When designing attitudinal questions consider the following: -How you word/formulate your questions – be specific -It may be important to measure the attitude’s intensity as a follow-up question -Multiple related questions on a single attitude are more reliable

Qualitative research Question formulation i. Improperly worded questions can lead to biased and meaningless responses ii. Have a clear conceptual idea of what content is to be measured iii. Very important to pretest the questions and to revise and improve them iv. Use exact terms, and terms must be simple and comprehensible even to the least educated person v. Avoid vague and ambiguous questions/words vi. Avoid complex and lengthy sentences vii. Avoid assumptions (e.g. What is your job?, What work does your dad do?)

Qualitative research Interviewing i. Generating good, useful interview data requires a good interview framework ii. Good interviews tend to be structured and focused iii. A good interview framework includes: -Creating a positive atmosphere -Asking the questions properly -Obtaining an adequate response -Recording the response -Avoiding biases iv. Even less structured interviews need to be focused

Qualitative research Review questions – questionnaires and interviewing Discuss the following questions with a partner 1. Write an example question aimed at discovering a fact, one aimed at an attitude/belief, and one aimed at behaviour – evaluate your questions in terms of clarity, specificity, precision, unbiasedness, and simplicity 2. You need to interview people MUST students about their views on censorship in China. Describe the considerations that would help obtain valid information on this topic.

Qualitative research Field notes: Gathering data i. A field-worker must make detailed records, called field notes, of everything s/he hears and sees ii. As participant observers (i.e. field-work researchers) usually do not have specific categories for final analysis in mind, field notes can be very extensive, including recordings of interviews, written descriptions on places, people, events, etc. Samples sizes and numbers of observations i. Participant observers usually do not perform statistical analyses, and so this type of research inherently requires little mention of sample sizes. ii. However, keep in mind that a larger sample size serves the same purpose in all kinds of research – it makes the results more reliable

Qualitative research Samples sizes, numbers of observations, categories and themes iii. Pure qualitative research as a rule does not use measuring instruments with which to qualify constructs, but they do identify constructs and look for ‘instances’ iv. Participant observers generate and revise their hypotheses as they gather data. Constructs and categories emerge from the research data v. Surveys always rely on exact measuring instruments, even if open questions are used as par of the surveying. The results in surveys are always quantified, and constructs always need to be qualified. Constructs, categories and measuring instruments are always predetermined (i.e. qualified before the data collection takes place)

Qualitative research Review questions Discuss the following questions with a partner 1. How does participant observation differ from questionnaire surveys? 2. Explain why you think participant observation is largely not concerned with sample size and qualified construct categories. 3. What do you think are the ethical issues involved in fieldwork research?